Baby food

I found a recipe online for cake using baby food. Kind of like banana bread in texture and flavor, depending on what baby food you use. I did pear and it was awesome. I did peach the next day at my sister's house and the kids ate it very quickly. I liked the pear better.

Today with another sister visiting I decided I needed to use the baby cereal too. So I turned to Chef Google and came up with a recipe. I had to tweak it slightly, but the cookies turned out super yummy. I'll definitely be making them again, since Oscar doesn't eat baby cereal.



Here it is...

Oatmeal Baby Cereal Cookies

2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 C baby oatmeal cereal
2 eggs
1 C white sugar
1 C brown sugar
1/2 C oil
1 tsp vanilla

If you stop here your dough will be super dry. I added milk till it was moist and stuck together - between 1/4 cup and 1/2 cup. I didn't measure so I'm not positive. Also, the recipe I found said you could do between 2 1/2 and 3 cups of cereal. I did somewhere in between.

I know most recipes tell you to mix the wet and dry ingredients separately, but it works just fine to throw it all together.

Spray your cookie sheet and drop your cookie dough in mounds. Bake for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Lots of pics to catch up

Made this for the ward activity. They were gone in less than 5 minutes.

Oz being cute.

Surprise!

Scooting backwards. Still no crawling.

My sometimes awesome bed head sometimes looks like this.

Even better than my bed head is his.

The foyer of the hotel where we stayed on our anniversary trip. Green Valley Ranch Resort in LV.

Next to the pool at our hotel.

The pool. The dark and then tan is sand.

I put all the Disneyland pics up on Facebook. I probably ought to put them here too.

A new beginning

Yeah, I know it's the middle of March. I didn't make any New Year's Resolutions. I wasn't ready to commit to anything at all. Now I feel like more than just wanting, I actually have the motivation to do stuff.

The past 9 months have been especially difficult for me. I figured out that once I hit the 6 month mark in my pregnancy I can't do much anymore. We were incredibly blessed to find Danielle - a girl in our ward who lives just down the street - who was willing to come and help out for very little money. Once Oscar was born, Brent and I both decided that to preserve sanity we wanted Danielle to keep coming.

Now, Oscar is almost 7 months old, the kids call her Dan-oh or Dan-yoh, and she's right this moment washing dishes in my kitchen. I'm totally in love. I'm pretty sure I couldn't do another pregnancy without her (or someone very similar). Life-saving. Or at least sanity-saving.

So, changes.

1. Last night I actually enforced the kids sleeping in their own beds. First time ever. Of course, Amelia got up in the middle of the night and Brent comforted her through the night. Like for a few hours. Sadly, that woke me anyway (I'm a super light sleeper), but at least I didn't have to hold on to her all night long so she didn't throw herself off my chair onto her head while she was sleeping. I'm going to continue to enforce. As much as I would love to snuggle with my kids all night, I just can't sleep. And that's not an option.

2. On Saturday I went to the open casting call for Biggest Loser. I didn't get a callback. But like my cousin (who went with me), I figure if I can commit to a show, I should be able to do the work on my own. As nice as it would be to have someone pushing me hard (and I totally know I could lose like 150+ pounds), I need to just buck up and get to work. I have the tools I need. I've started blogging again on my saygoodbyefatty.blogspot.com blog again in anticipation of this particular change.

3. Blogging. Yeah, this one is already obvious. Another way to be accountable.

4. Organizing my house. I'm going to start collecting stuff for a giant yard sale this summer. I'm going to finally decorate my living room and bedroom. I'm going to re-do some of the work Darla helped me start when I was pregnant and get the rest of my house in order. News of disasters in the world (and broken kitchen pipes, dang it) make me want to be MUCH better prepared.

5. Gotta rip the carpet out of the office. This is a necessity because of the recent flood we had. 30+ year old carpet and padding means that getting wet is a really bad thing. Sadly, that's the room in the house that most desperately needs organizing. And it's packed with stuff. This is going to be a huge project.

6. Time to get back on the wagon with churchy stuff. You know, daily scripture reading and prayers. FHE, etc. I need to do this for myself. I need to do this for my family.

7. At the back of my mind for a very long time has been the desire to do couponing. I know someone can spend a LOT of time doing it, but I'm pretty sure that it would be worth my time and would help us out financially too.

8. In about 2 years, when our family debt is almost gone, I want to go on an adventure. And I'm not talking about a vacation. I want to move. Like to South America. Or Florida. If Brent's still working for the same company, then all we need is an internet connection. Time to work on the organization (yard sale - get rid of all our extra stuff), in addition to the debt and long-term plans.

Yeah, I'm excited. Oscar has been taking a nice long nap and he's starting to stir. I guess I should get dressed while I still have the chance. If I hadn't lost the cord to my camera (again!!!), I'd be posting pictures. Maybe I'll post some older ones (next time - Oscar is awake).

Birthday Hat, Play Date at the mall, and another Flood

I'm trying to be creative. I've always known Felix had a huge head, but I underestimated and it was tight on him. I ended up taking out the elastic and he wore it happily for a few hours till it kept falling down.
We spent an afternoon at the Provo Mall with Miranda and a friend of hers. We even took a ride on the little train that goes around the mall. The kids loved it!
Friday night while at my sister's house, mom called to tell me that there was a flood. A pipe taking water to the kitchen sink broke and gushed for probably an hour or two before she found it. The entire back half of the house was totally flooded. This picture was taken after 2 hours spent with two shop vacs. In the kids' room, the only thing ruined was a book (not one of my favorites, thank goodness). In the kitchen the only thing ruined was a giant unopened bag of sugar. My juicer was on the floor and has been drying out on the back patio. We'll see if that survives. There was wood in the hallway that got soaked, and we'll have to tear the carpet out of the office. That'll be a huge job, so till we have the energy to do it, I'm burning lots of incense. It's smelly!

Also, last week my aunt Laurie died. She was diagnosed with cancer on Jan 4. She's my dad's next younger sister, and I didn't know her very well. Last night I went to the airport (in grotesque weather) to pick up Blaine and his family. The funeral was yesterday in Kentucky, and the burial is tomorrow in Spanish Fork. Blaine's family is staying here, and the other family members are at other relatives' houses. I'll try to get a cousin picture, but there will be lots of people missing. Sad though, that a funeral could bring most of us together better than anything else.

Since I'll never catch up

1. Finally got the insurance settlement from my accident last February. Came in right in time for Christmas. We spent it on bills and redoing our living room.

2. Redid the living room with lots of good help. It looks about a kazillion times better than it did and is not disease-ridden anymore. Yay for ripping out 30+ year old carpeting!!!

3. Christmas was great. Nothing really to note.

4. Amelia was sick on her birthday - Thanksgiving, so we never got around to doing anything for her.

5. Felix turned 4 and we took the kids to the aquarium. And Felix was sick so he didn't enjoy it much, although he LOVED his presents. Brent and I bought him a last-minute track thing with two cars and he plays with that thing constantly. Amelia loved petting the stingrays at the aquarium.

6. I keep gaining weight.

7. I was in an accident on New Year's Eve. I was on my way to the airport to pick up my friend Juanita and her family, driving their car. Got two houses down from mine and a neighbor backed out of her driveway into me. The insurance companies are still fighting over whose fault it is because apparently she told her insurance that she was already going forward when I hit her. But really she was in reverse when we hit. As much as I hate the idea of a feud in the cul-de-sac or in the ward, I'll fight that till the bitter end if I have to. In the meantime, I have to come up with my friend's $500 deductible so she can get her car fixed. Yucky.

8. Brent and I are going to Disneyland for our 5-year anniversary this month. We were going to try to go on a huge cruise but we just can't pull it off. Sigh. Someday I'll get back to Alaska...

9. I've been doing a lot of crafting. I made these really cute snowmen earrings (thanks a billion to CarrieAnne for passing along a link to the idea) and ended up selling over 40 pairs. I gave away at least that many. I've been inspired. I'm currently making beaded flowers, but I don't know if I'll sell them. They take too long so far.

10. I plan on getting a booth or a kiosk next fall/winter to sell my stuff. I'm going to call it Bucks Even (because I hate having to buy something for much less than I have because "with tax" the item I want is just out of my price range - don't you dare steal my idea, I plan on copyrighting it soon) and I'll have a variety of things - hopefully all that will make good Christmas presents. Like my jewelry, small rice bag warmers, mini M&M dispensers (gotta figure out how to cut baby food jar lids), and various things from a few of my friends who want in. If all goes as planned/hoped, I'll be able to take $5000-$8000 profit from it that would be a great way to pay off taxes or start up a real business. Cross your fingers for me!

11. Felix tells me all the time that he's my kitty cat. He's really smart but we're not pushing him with kindergarten-type things. I love seeing him enjoy learning things.

12. Amelia loves to copy Felix. She's got his vocabulary. She's got crazy hair most of the time. She can count to 10 when she's not thinking about it, but otherwise she skips numbers. I'm pretty sure Felix has never done that for me, although he can already do simple addition and subtraction.

13. Both kids are very helpful. Most recently, they have discovered that they can make Oscar laugh. We all love that.

14. Oscar is really short (17th percentile), on the chubby side (77th percentile), and he's got a huge head (98th percentile). He's extremely pleasant and easy. He sleeps mostly through the night almost all of the time. He was 6 months old the day before Felix's birthday. Oscar laughs a lot and he's very ticklish. He loves to jump in his jumpy chair but doesn't like being on his belly. He sleeps on his side best.

15. I love having my kids around. I'm finally feeling like I can accomplish things without constant help. Only took me about 9 months. Too bad I had to gain all sorts of weight in that time. I feel all sorts of sluggish and can't wait for good weather so the kids and I can enjoy the backyard while Brent goes to the library to get his work done.


I think that's mostly it. I have tons of projects already made and tons that I'm planning on making. I'll try to start getting pics up of those projects. And I really will try to post more regularly. It'll probably usually be short posts. Hopefully.

Love you all!

Tragedy

First, a disclaimer/apology: I realize I haven't kept up on my blog lately. Life gets both hectic and boring with a newborn around. The best part of our days lately has been the funny stuff that Felix and Amelia say. They crack us up. Also, Oscar is a very cheerful and generally easy baby. Thank goodness. I'm sorry. I'll try to do better.

Now, for the reason I'm writing today...

It seems lately that there is tragedy all around me. Everyone is being hit. Either there is serious illness or financial distress, and often the two go hand in hand.

Money stinks. Everyone is wanting, and it's not frivolous stuff either. For example, there's the dear friend who's insurance won't pay for her son's $1500 per month growth hormones so he can be a normal-sized boy. There's the dear friend who just found out she has cataracts and will need serious and expensive surgery. There's the sister who's trying to support her family while her husband's business flails. There's the cousin who's son needs all sorts of reconstructive surgery for a birth defect. There's the sister who is finding her hours cut at work, despite needing to work full-time to pay her bills. There's the friend who's son was just diagnosed with a couple of serious illnesses and has been trying to raise money to get a service dog trained for him.

I, for once, got some amazing news recently and now I feel all sorts of guilty about it. I mean, I think it was about time our ship came in (so to speak), but I hate seeing my loved ones in distress.

I have got to figure out a way to help those around me. I hate the idea of fundraising. I do like the idea of being wealthy enough to help. I've got to figure out how to do that. I'm sure if any of my loved ones knew how, they'd already be doing that themselves, but if anyone has any ideas, please spread the love.

Latest family member

(sadly my pics are unavailable till I figure out how to resize them. I no longer have access to iPhoto)

So, the last month has been a bit on the crazy side of things. I finally got around to getting seen for my tooth that broke back in January. Turned out that it needed a root canal but it was salvageable with a crown. Medicaid paid for metal fillings (I needed 4) and a metal crown - I paid for the upgrades to ceramic, so my mouth is still all white. Yay!

I got the fillings and crown on the 18th and on the 19th of August I started having real contractions. I could tell from the start that they were different than the ones I'd had before. Even though I'd been in the hospital twice with serious contractions, the ones on the 19th were definitely different. For one thing, I could feel them deeper down in my belly and by early afternoon they had settled into my back. I was pretty sure that meant baby was coming so I cleaned up around the house, took a shower, and packed the hospital bag. It helped me feel at least a little bit prepared.

Since my parents were unavailable (mom was on a cruise with her mom and sisters, and dad was at work), we packed the kids into the car and headed to the hospital around 7 pm. I was dilated to a 3. I got two doses of the muscle relaxant that sometimes helps stop labor, because the doc was hoping we could put off the inevitable for a few more weeks.

When the doctor got there a little after 9 pm, we decided to break my water and just have the baby since my contractions weren't stopping. I was still dilated to a 3, but my bag of waters was bulging through, and given my history with super quick births, we figured maybe we could just get it over with quickly. My brother Daniel helpfully brought his son Ethan over to stay with the kids so it was just me and Brent and nurse Jennifer for the majority of the evening.

I progressed quickly, but not so quickly as we thought I might. Dr. Saunders went off to rest up and wait for me to be ready and the nurse assigned to me was amazingly helpful. She helped me labor in various positions and checked me periodically. After 2 hours, I was dilated to a 7 and I stayed there for about an hour. I got up and went to the bathroom, labored in various positions, and even spent about half an hour on my knees. Jennifer helpfully pressed on my lower back and rocked my hips back and forth during the contractions, which relieved huge amounts of back pain.

Finally about 12:30 am, Jennifer wanted to check me again so I got back up. Still dilated to a 7, she suggested I lay on my side. I was up for something different, but when the next contraction hit (they were almost on top of each other by this time) it was super painful and I knew that position was a really bad idea. Turns out that was transition, and when she checked me again just a few minutes later I was at a 9 1/2 (about 3 minutes had passed).

Another nurse popped her head in and Jennifer yelled for her to get the doctor. By this time I was really whimpering through the contractions and there was no down time between them at all. Hoping it was time to push, I gave a tentative one while Jennifer was putting on her gloves and she told me to stop. But then it really was time to push. She tried to get me to grunt through it - only short little bursts, no real pushing, but I knew this was it: "no! he's coming NOW!"

One big push and out he came. The official time was 12:42 am. Jennifer was still putting on her second glove, so little Oscar came out on the bed. Jennifer joked afterward that if it had been a shorter bed he would have shot out onto the floor.

With that one push I finally felt relief. No tearing and really there was no pain. Just the relief of the push. That part was essentially the same as with Amelia.

Less than a minute later Dr. Saunders came in. So yeah, no doctor attended the birth. Jennifer and Dr. Saunders spent a few minutes checking him out and making sure he was okay, while I got ready to hold my new baby. I had told both of them that I wanted to do skin to skin, but in the excitement the cord got cut immediately (we wanted to wait a minute) and he got passed to the special care nurse. Again I expressed my desire to hold him naked against my skin but nobody heard, so when I finally got him he was wrapped tightly. Dang it. That was really my only disappointment with the experience.

Little Oz was breathing a little fast so he was taken to the special care nursery. They did a skin response test that essentially told them his blood sugar was a little low. They decided to start an IV just to get some fluids in him, but it took them a long time to get it started. Apparently the strain was enough that Oscar cried heartily, opening up his lungs and clearing up the breathing issue. The special care nurses finally called in the on-call neonatologist, who got the IV started in his foot.

I felt great, a bit on the wired side. I did send Brent home to stay with the kids so Ethan wouldn't get overwhelmed in case they woke up in the night.

Stats: 6 lbs 8 oz, 18 1/2 inches long. Lots of dark brown hair. Super cute, of course. I think he looks a lot more like me than the other two kids. Good looking, either way. :)

Oz initially nursed well, but after the first two times he cried every time I tried to nurse him. He did have the IV so we didn't have to give him a bottle. It took four more days for him to nurse again and then it was spotty. By a week and a half, the docs wanted him to get feedings every 3 hours, so I did power pumps before going to bed and allowed the night nurses to bottle feed at night so I could sleep. It was helpful because I was getting so tired I could barely function.

Let me tell you, leaving a kid in the hospital can be both exhausting and helpful. It's nice to sleep through the night, but it's terrible to not be able to take your newborn home.

Anyway, Little Oz did well with feedings and he was released on Friday, Sept 3 - two weeks after he was born. We've now had him at home for a week and he's great. We're slowly adjusting to having three little ones. It would be a bit easier if we didn't have sickness to deal with as well.

Oh, Brent got salmonella the week Oscar was born. There was a 288 million egg recall. Brent went to the doctor to get updated diabetes medicine and the doc thought he didn't really have salmonella. Our eggs weren't part of the recall so we wondered. But then there was another recall, this time of more than 300 million eggs, and this time our eggs were in the recall.

I finally got sick the day Oscar was released from the hospital, but mine was/is a really bad cold. Felix and Amelia have both gotten it, although thankfully not as bad.

So now, Felix starts out the night in his own room, although he almost always ends up with me in the big recliner in the office. Amelia sleeps on the floor next to the recliner and most of the time she makes it through the night. Not always though, so when I've got both kids in the chair with me I don't end up getting much sleep. Not that I can complain much. Brent takes Oscar through the night.

As disruptive as it is to sleep to deal with two toddlers, I don't have to wake completely up to deal with them. But feeding a newborn in the middle of the night would require complete wakefulness, so that would actually be harder on my sleep.

I know, totally selfish. But I LOVE that my babies love their daddy so much because he feeds them too. They are infinitely bonded to him and it makes my heart happy.

The kids are adjusting well to having a baby in the house. They seem perfectly accepting of his presence. I've tried to explain that mommy has a special kind of pocket (we started with talking about giraffes) where babies can grow called a uterus. And when baby Oscar got big enough he came out. If it had been earlier in the day, I would have kept the kids in the room to watch. Yeah, I'm that kind of mom. :) We also talk about nursing, and how only mommies have milk. I tell that that if it's been a long time since I nursed Oscar or since I pumped then I can get really sore. That's important for when the kids climb on me because really I get beyond sore sometimes.

As before, I'm really loving being a mom to a newborn. Oscar is a beautiful baby that I feel totally in love with.

And as always, I love to show him off. Feel free to stop by and ogle my gorgeous baby, as long as you're not sick. :)